Trip of a Lifetime Blog

After many weeks of reading, re-reading, and interviewing, the time has finally come to congratulate our newest class of accepted students. This year, we accepted 11 students, more than ever before, across four grade levels: 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th. Our students came from over half a dozen schools and are class presidents, volunteers, actresses, and even concert piano players. 

We are excited to get to know them better over the next couple of weeks and introduce our accepted students to you. Stay tuned to our blog and Facebook page for interviews and other exciting content.

Three days ago, I returned from my own “trip of a lifetime” of sorts. I just spent ten days in Israel on Taglit Birthright, a program for college students to explore the country and develop their own connections with Judaism. 

Visiting Israel exceeded all of my expectations. In addition to visiting the traditional sites such as the Kotel (Western Wall) and Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum), I also had the opportunity to spend five days with a group of eight Israeli Soldiers. In Israeli, every teen has to serve in the IDF, the Israeli Defense Force, so soldiers are just typical college-age students; they love to watch TV, go on Facebook, and even know Gangam Style and Honey Boo Boo.

Beyond enjoying American entertainment, the soldiers showed all of us the importance of persevering through adversity. Even though they live their lives in constant danger, soldiers have an unwavering pride for their country; many would give up their lives at home at the drop of a hat to fight on the front lines. Instead of blaming others for their past woes, soldiers are always focused on the future, fighting for the day when the whole region is at peace. Not every soldier always likes what is going on in Israel but they sure as heck love their country. 

My trip to Israel is only one of many eye-opening experiences the Trip of a Lifetime staff has had. As a collective, we have been to six continents and over thirty countries including Scotland, Ghana, UAE, and Cambodia. Although we have reached the far corners of the globe, there is always something new to explore.

Experience wanderlust and expand your horizons while you still can.

- Stan

Me in Tel Aviv

Every year, I am amazed by the outpouring of support Trip of a Lifetime receives from our donors and sponsors. Without their donations and positive reinforcement, the organization would not be where it is today. Although everyone deserves recognition, there are a few people I would like to especially signal out.

Norman Rein, Karen Rein, and Howie Fox - Thank you for believing in the work Trip of a Lifetime does since day one. You have given us invaluable advice and have always encouraged us to expand the organization. The trips you provide to students are truly amazing.

Nancy O’Connor and Joanna Paul - Thank you for being two of the first members of our community advisory board. We are excited work more closely with you over the next few months to improve the organization.

Mollie Quinn, Katie Dubiel, Jodie Ruck, Nate Cole, Norm Silverman, and Evan Meyers - Thank you for being the reason we receive so many great applicants each year. You make our jobs difficult but that’s exactly what we want from you. All of you care about your students more than anyone else I have ever met.

Philip Gallagher, Mitch Mosk, Claire Hodgdon, Dustin Alin, Josh Kogan, Steven Kline, Saket Mehta - Thank you for being the best supporting cast I could ever ask for. Although things get stressful at times, you have stuck with me since day one, helping shape Trip of a Lifetime into the amazing organization it is today. Working alongside you has made me appreciate all of you that much more and developed friendships that will truly last a lifetime.

Alex Shropshire and Leah Schoenfeld - Thanks for trusting me and becoming two of our first interns. Although each of you have only been on the job for a few months, you can already see the impact both of you are having on the organization. Having additional hands on deck has made running the organization that much easier.

Mom and Dad - From the first time I decided to embark on this journey, you have been my captains, steering me towards success and helping me when times got tough. Whether you help keep our books straight, cash checks, or are simply my biggest cheerleaders, each role has been invaluable and greatly appreciated. Love you both!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

- Stan

This week, the Tri-State area was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy was like nothing I have ever experienced. Between the flooding, power outages, down trees, and property damage, it will take a long time for the city to recover. Life is slowly returning to normal but, remember that there are always people who are in need. One simple deed can make a meaningful difference.

As a nonprofit organization that focuses on city youth, it is more important than ever for Trip of a Lifetime to continue its mission. We need to empower students to become their own agents for change, using their trips to make a difference in the community. Each change agent makes a big difference, helping to repair our city, our country, and our world. Trip of a Lifetime’s trips make this possible.

Please stay safe, volunteer, and help our city become stronger after the storm!

- Stan

Hi everyone! 

My name is Leah Schoenfeld, and I’m very excited to be one of the first two interns at Trip of a Lifetime!  I am currently a junior at NYU, majoring in economics and psychology and minoring in child and adolescent mental health studies. My career goal is currently undecided, but I would like to pursue either business or law (or both), with the hope to one day work for the public interest.  I usually say that I’m from San Diego, but really I have lived all over—New Jersey, Ohio, London, San Diego and now New York!

While living in London during my childhood (and while spending a semester at NYU’s program there this past spring) I have had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Europe, and gained a love for and appreciation of international travel.  However, I have also had some amazing experiences traveling throughout the US, including visiting Washington DC—my favorite trip within the States.  I know how influential it was for me to be able to travel to our nation’s capital, so I am very happy to be a part of an organization that can provide similar experiences to others.

I met Stan when we had a class together freshman year, and we have since become good friends.  Hearing him talk about Trip of a Lifetime has shown me his passion for the organization and made me want to get involved.  When he told me about the new internship program, I immediately knew I wanted to apply.  I am so grateful for this opportunity to intern at Trip of a Lifetime, and can’t wait to learn more about Trip of a Lifetime and the non-profit sector as a whole.

-Leah

Hey everybody and Welcome to the Official Trip of Lifetime Blog!

My name is Alex Shropshire and I’m just beginning my internship at Trip of a Lifetime. I am a college sophomore at NYU Stern School of Business, undecided in concentration. My interests include professional and collegiate sports, film photography, almost all genres of music, and, of course, trying new food. Currently residing in Manhattan, I was born and raised in a suburb of Los Angeles, California. Having the opportunity to travel to 12 different countries on 4 different continents and living on both sides of the country has given me insight into how important it is to explore new places.

Through these trips, I have been taught more about the world and about myself than I could ever learn in a classroom. Travel is the single greatest learning experience a young adult can have to complement their development of an informed worldview and an open mind. My personal goal is to do what I can to pass along that learning experience to others.

Once I was fully informed about the work of Trip of a Lifetime, I became intrigued and knew I wanted to do what I could to help. I met Stan Rosenberg, Chairman of Trip of a Lifetime, my senior year of high school, became friends with him my freshmen year of college, traveled to Ghana with him that winter, and have built up a tremendous excitement to be working alongside him and the rest of the team this year.

I can’t wait continue sharing my stories and interests with you! Excited to be on board!

-Alex

This semester, I am taking a class called the Business of Nonprofit Management taught by Aria Finger, the COO of DoSomething.org. If you don’t know who she is or what the organization does, check out this great profile of her in Crain’s.

Although I have only had five sessions so far, I have already learned a wealth of information from the class. Below are ten of the many facts the class has taught me. Hopefully, these tidbits will interest, inspire, and teach you a few things. 

1) When a nonprofit organization merges with another nonprofit or for-profit organization, it must purchase the organization for $1

2) If you donate money to MercyCorps for disaster relief, it must use the money you donate for that disaster. Otherwise, it can assume legal liability.

3) According to Interbrand, The Habitat For Humanity Brand is worth $1.8 Billion Dollars (If I had to guess, the Trip of a Lifetime brand is probably worth in the low six figures)

4) KFC once funded Breast Cancer Awareness. (Wouldn’t anti-obesity be a better social platform for the fast food chain?)

5) New York State is considering capping non-profit CEO compensation at $140,000 a year.

6) Animal causes have the highest fan engagement on social media.

7) Only 501(c)4 organizations, not 501(c)3’s can carry out political lobbying.

8) Changing the Images on a website can improve click through rates by as much as 80%

9) Smartphone penetration in Africa is over 50%.

10) 98% of all registered nonprofit organizations have Facebook Pages. (For more awesome facts about nonprofits and social media, check out this infographic)

If you ever come across any interesting nonprofit facts, please share them with us on our Blog, Twitter, or Facebook.

- Stan

Yesterday, I presented to 100+ people about the importance of storytelling when marketing to millennials at the Internet Marketing Assocation’s Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. As part of my presentation, I explained my work with Trip of a Lifetime. and discussed how the organization is using stories to drive deeper engagement. 

Although everyone is familiar with stories, books, and literature, a story in a marketing context is a small digestible piece of content that gets easily shared with others. Trip of a Lifetime’s biggest story is a student quote; if a picture can tell 1000 words, just imagine what a powerful quote from a student can share. This is one of the main reasons why we have students write their post-trip essays; we want to get their unfiltered perspectives and share them with our donors, sponsors, and fans. Ultimately, no one cares what I have to say; donors are funding the student trips, not me as the founder of this organization. Every quote brings our supporters one step closer to feeling part of the “trip of a lifetime.” They might not go on the trips themselves but we want them to feel like they did.

That’s the power of a story!

- Stan

This summer, we at Trip of a Lifetime have been working on a pet project of ours: upgrading our website. Four years ago, when we started the organization, Josh and I created the website using Weebly, a simple online CMS Platform. Weebly is great for educational wiki’s and small business websites but as the charity grew, we also began to grow too big for Weebly. We wanted to give our site a more professional feel, we wanted to give our donors an easier way to provide feedback, we wanted to have a platform to better share student stories. With the help of MoPro, our site designer, we turned these visions into a reality.

Today, I am happy to share the beta launch of the new Trip of a Lifetime website. Feel free to browse it but remember this is still a test site; there will be plenty of changes made before our final release. Everyone we have showed it to has had a positive first reaction and we hope you will too. 

Where has the summer gone? It feels like the first students left for their trips only yesterday. As I am writing this post, many of the students are now done with their “trips of a lifetime.” Did the experience impact their lives? Will the organization live up to its mission? These are still some of the many questions that are left unanswered; we hope to paint a clearer picture in the coming days and weeks.

One of the most overlooked parts of the organization is the post-trip essay; every student is required to write one but they are more than a homework assignment or chore. These essays force students to dig deeper into their experience, probing the lessons learned and examining how they can translate into the real world. Anyone can have a great time on a teen tour but it takes a truly exceptional student to peel away meaning from the opportunity. Knowing the ten students we accepted this summer, I am confident the essays will reflect immense enthusiasm, knowledge, and opportunity.

- Stan Rosenberg

             250 votes, 7 days, and 1 radio commercial. It has been a whirlwind of a week but we did it!

            If you didn’t know, Trip of a Lifetime participated in the Charity Moment Contest last week; the winning prize was our own radio commercial, broadcast nationwide on CBS Radio. With the help of our family, friends, and supporters, we received over 250 votes, enough to win the contest. Listen to the commercial here.

             Although winning the contest will be a great way for Trip of a Lifetime to get brand exposure, the commercial itself isn’t the part we are most proud of. This whole campaign reaffirmed to us the power of social advocacy; anything is possible with a groundswell of support. If we were able to scrap 250 votes in under a week, just imagine what could happen if we all work together year round to empower students through summer travel. Anyone can be a passive supporter but it takes someone special to take a cause by the reigns and do something to advocate and empower change. Whether you voted or not, we hope you continue to support Trip of a Lifetime; each of our small ripples can create larger, more powerful waves.

             Thanks again to CBS Radio and Kars4Kids for this amazing opportunity.

Stan Rosenberg

Yesterday, I had the honor to attend the Wall Street Journal Donor of the Day Gala at the Whitney Museum. The gala, which was sponsored by Oscar De La Renta and Harry Winston, celebrated the philanthropic commitment of people (like myself) profiled in the Donor of The Day section of the Wall Street Journal. If you don’t read the column, I highly recommend you do. Each profile is only a few paragraphs long but they all show the amazing breadth of causes readers of the paper are tackling every day, from eating disorders to boxing style competitions on Wall Street that raise money for cancer. The column profiles everyone from athletes and celebrities such as Susan Sarandon and Mark Teixeira (Sarandon was in attendance last night) to ordinary people of all ages, from 12 to 80.

Stan posing next to his picture on the Donor Wall.

What I appreciated the most about last night’s event was how the spotlight was on the donors and their causes; the purpose of the event didn’t get lost in the glitz and glamour. In addition to a great dinner (and an amazing chocolate mousse desert), the gala featured speeches by renowned artist Jeff Koons and Ernie Allen, director of the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), and a private acoustic performance by Brandi Carlisle. See more pictures from the event here

Even though I work on Trip of a Lifetime for the recognition or honor, it is always nice to be recognized. Thanks to the Wall Street Journal for making last night possible and giving this amazing organization the press it truly deserves.

Me and my lovely guest/mother - Helene Kuker Rosenberg

After six weeks and countless hours, the time has finally come. We are happy to announce that Trip of a Lifetime has selected ten students to send on trips this summer. All of the ten students we selected stood out to us for their academic achievement, numerous activities, and most importantly their desire to become a catalyst for change in their communities. Each student has their own distinctive story, and we hope their narratives truly shine this spring and summer.

Unfortunately, we received more applications than we had spots available and had to make some very tough decisions. We can honestly say that every application we received stood out and wish we could extend this opportunity to more students. Every year, we have been expanding this organization and hope to send even more students on trips in 2013 and beyond.

On behalf of everyone at Trip of a Lifetime, we would like to thank all of the schools who have helped us identify applicants: Validus Prep, Cristo Rey, the High School for Language and Diplomacy, Harlem Village Academies, and White Plains High School. Without their help, we wouldn’t have received our strongest applicant pool ever. In addition, we would like to thank our teen tour partners - American Trails West and Rein Teen Tours – for allowing us to provide amazing trips to these students. Both companies have been supporters of Trip of a Lifetime since its inception and have provided us with invaluable guidance and support.

We are excited to get to know our accepted students better in the coming weeks. Hearing their stories is what makes working with Trip of a Lifetime worthwhile every year. Thanks again for your continuous support.

Summer Is Less Than Two Months Away! 

- Stan

Although reading all of the applications has consumed a lot of our time at Trip of a Lifetime, we have also been working on two other programs behind the scenes. 

Looking Back - Looking Back is part of our Trip Ambassador Program. After their trips, all students have the opportunity to volunteer as trip ambassadors; their role is to promote Trip of a Lifetime in their communities and act as a liason for incoming students. This month, we had every trip ambassador send us three tips they would give to new students about Trip of a Lifetime. Since Trip of a Lifetime can seem daunting at first,we wanted our past students to share insights, tips, and ways to get over first day jitters. Below are some of the amazing tips we received from our students

“The most important thing to do during the trip is to definitely make friends with everyone, this makes the trip a lot more memorable rather than being boring. They will be your family for the next month so it will be better to get along” - Monica D.

“Focus on fun! This organization is not called Trip of a LIFETIME for nothing! It is truly an experience that you will never forget. Even though my trip was 2 summers back, I can still vividly remember the sites I was, the amazing memories I made with friends whom I still have contact with. Make the most of your experience! Pull pranks on the tents, bring card and have card game tournaments on the bus! Dare someone to jump into the icy river while rafting! If all done with safety, these can create pleasant memories that you will carry forever.” - Maria S.

“Inhale all the air you want because it will never be the same again.” - Alphonso H.

Looking Ahead - Our second program, which we have nicknamed Looking Ahead, is a pre-trip kickoff celebration we are planning for all selected students in Early June. At this meeting, students will be able to meet each other, ask past students about the experience, have their questions answered by Trip of a Lifetime staff and receive their trip packages. In addition, Norman Rein, the President of Rein Teen Tours, will be on hand to answer trip specific questions and welcome the students. Like every Trip of a Lifetime event, we will document the experience on our website, blog, and Facebook Page. 

Without a doubt, it will be an exciting few months for Trip of a Lifetime. We can almost feel the hot summer sun and the cool ocean breeze.

Madelyn G. on her trip. Thanks to Norman Rein for the picture